Mobile food traders have clearly objected to proposed new Dunedin City Council rules that would stop them from trading within 300m of other coffee or food outlets.
The majority of submitters on a draft mobile trading bylaw objected to the proposed new 300m rule, the proposed revocation of the permanent food stalls policy - saying more permanent sites were needed rather than fewer - and a proposal to restrict trading in the central business district, parks and reserves.
The bylaw is being reviewed because of the significant increase in the number of mobile traders operating in Dunedin since it was last reviewed, in 2003.
Mobile traders say the proposed rules would restrict their ability to find customers and trade sustainably and be a part of vibrant city life, as such traders are in other cities.
They would like the council to provide some permanent locations where they can trade, and allow them to trade in the CBD, parks and reserves and within 300m of other food outlets, within reason.
One asked why it seemed the city wanted to protect fixed retailers and not mobile ones, when they, too, brought commercial activity to the city, while another suggested mobile traders would leave the city if the rules became too restrictive.
A council hearings committee expects to hear from 13 of the 18 submitters - most of them owners of food trucks or trailers - at a hearing in Dunedin on Monday. Fourteen of the 18 submitters opposed all or some of the changes.
